DAYTONA, Fla. – Improper tire pressure, lack of horsepower and miscommunications in the pits yesterday conspired to produce one sucky day of racing for our Arizona contingent.
Continuing his triumphant return to Daytona, Ray Thibodeaux finished third in the amateur unlimited SuperSport race yesterday, but his podium finish was erased when Team Thibodeaux failed to take his winning bike to tech inspection.
Thibodeaux could not escort the bike to inspection personally because he was out on the track racing in the subsequent amateur middleweight SuperSport race, where a mechanical failure made it impossible for him to shift his bike, resulting in a seventh place finish. A successful protest was launched and Thibodeaux’s third-place finish was reinstated – about the only highlight of the day.
“That sucked!” Patrick Bertinelli said after a disappointing 11th place finish in the amateur unlimited SuperSport race, where low tire pressure had the No. 93 Krewe of Helios-Arizona Suzuki GSX-R 1000 bucking him up and down the fabled 31-degree banking of NASCAR Turn 4. Matt Heppler of Payson followed in 13th while Gary King of Cave Creek placed 17th. In the concurrently run expert unlimited SuperSport, Dave Stone cursed his way to an equally unhappy seventh.
“I had no horsepower!” Stone said, in one of his few comments that did not include the adjectival, adverbial, verb and noun usages of the f-word. “A friggin’ Ducati beat me! A Ducati!?!”
On the No. 613 aztrackday.com / All Stone Army Suzuki 650, Alan Chook placed seventh in the expert lightweight SuperSport race.
Because of inconsistent wireless connectivity, we hope to post the final day’s results on Sunday evening, October 22 – but that may or may not happen. So to tide you over, feel free to read our next entry: WHY I HATE HARLEYS.